A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl he drove to church.
David Scott will spend the next 10 years in prison for sexual offense with the girl. Her parents let him drive her to church because they thought he was mentoring her.
Scott admits that relationship went too far and confessed to taking the girl to Bradley Center Park in Gastonia to have sexual contact.
"I broke a scared trust," Scott said.
Her parents let her go with him because they thought he was driving her to church and teaching her about God.
Police said the abuse didn't happen at church, but the girl's crying mother said a love for church is why the girl first connected with Scott.
"It is not fair that now she thinks church is not safe," the girl's mother said.
Scott appeared to pray in court Wednesday.
At times he grabbed the Bible and shifted in his seat before issuing an apology that began like a sermon.
"Yes I'm a hypocrite," Scott said.
He broke down as he talked about the new title he will bear—a registered sex offender.
"If I could change what I have done I would," Scott said. "This was never my intention."
He talked about scripture.
"Pray for your enemies. That what Jesus said," he said.
He also talked about being forgiven and God's love and mercy being greater than the court's mercy.
Judge Jess Caldwell who is also a minister, challenged him on that.
"Were you showing Christian love to this girl when you were sexually abusing her?" the judge asked.
David Scott will spend the next 10 years in prison for sexual offense with the girl. Her parents let him drive her to church because they thought he was mentoring her.
Scott admits that relationship went too far and confessed to taking the girl to Bradley Center Park in Gastonia to have sexual contact.
"I broke a scared trust," Scott said.
Her parents let her go with him because they thought he was driving her to church and teaching her about God.
Police said the abuse didn't happen at church, but the girl's crying mother said a love for church is why the girl first connected with Scott.
"It is not fair that now she thinks church is not safe," the girl's mother said.
Scott appeared to pray in court Wednesday.
At times he grabbed the Bible and shifted in his seat before issuing an apology that began like a sermon.
"Yes I'm a hypocrite," Scott said.
He broke down as he talked about the new title he will bear—a registered sex offender.
"If I could change what I have done I would," Scott said. "This was never my intention."
He talked about scripture.
"Pray for your enemies. That what Jesus said," he said.
He also talked about being forgiven and God's love and mercy being greater than the court's mercy.
Judge Jess Caldwell who is also a minister, challenged him on that.
"Were you showing Christian love to this girl when you were sexually abusing her?" the judge asked.
"No sir," Scott said.
Read past coverage on this here.
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/Z275KL2PTQ7WHHV55LYJH3WBWM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/CPEHEMYETVGMXPGPMRCU32QFJM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/SKXSLKHT3FB3NPORZ37MOTANTI.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/U3EY7ZFBSVFTXLGH7UFZM2DMVA.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/IECLZ25KHBB2RL4UE2PRALJAZA.jpeg)